JMS and Superman: a bad combo

The latest from Metropolis is that J. Michael Straczynski (shortened to JMS because that’s a hard last name to spell) is leaving the main Superman title to focus on Superman: Earth One. He’s also leaving Wonder Woman, which is sure to make her fans happy but Superfans? Yeah, we’re still screwed.

cover art from the first "Superman: Earth One" GN

JMS’s run on Superman and Wonder Woman have been rather…controversial to this point. In Wonder Woman, where he replaced fan favorite Gail Simone as writer, Themyscira has been destroyed…again!…and Diana has to learn what happened since the timeline has been rewritten (I would say this is a regular Thursday occurrence in the DC Universe, but Thursday is now Saturday because the timeline is just that messed up) so that Wonder Woman never existed. That brings up so many continuity questions this article could easily be derailed and solve nothing so let’s move on. JMS is. MID-STORY!

Yes, JMS is leaving Wonder Woman in an alternate timeline and Kal-El on a walkabout to “reconnect with the people” to continue on Superman: Earth One, the Ultimate Comics wanna-be. From an interview with the DC Source Blog, DC’s personal marketing tool blog:

“I’d originally come to DC to do the Superman Earth One book which, at the time, was top secret so nobody knew about it,” Straczynski said, “and filled out on Brave and the Bold for a while to have fun and get up to speed on the DCU. When I was done with SEO I took on the Superman and Wonder Woman monthlies on the theory that I’d have time to script the full 12 issues before bounding back onto Earth One. But when the huge numbers started coming in on Earth One, and the need to fastrack the next volumes became evident in order to keep the momentum going, I knew there was no way in god’s green earth that I could write that and the monthlies simultaneously. Since DC has had my notes and outlines from day one on both titles, so they’re still my stories, it makes sense to let Chris and Phil keep going from the story beats I’ve set up. I’ll dive in on occasion as needed for important story points. It’s still my story, I’m involved in both books, and they’re going to continue in the direction we set up. I’m looking forward to seeing what Chris and Phil have in store.

That would be Chris Robertson, who will be taking over as the writer on Superman, and Phil Hester, who will take over on Wonder Woman. Granted Superman: Earth One is hitting the top of the sale charts with its story of a Clark Kent forced by circumstances to become Superman (dragged kicking and screaming, apparently) because DC’s current storywreckers writers don’t seem to believe that someone with superpowers would become a hero because it’s the right thing to do (good parenting, what’s that?–oh, and Pa Kent is already dead in this version too, but Ma is still around). However, that doesn’t change the fact that whether fans like the story or not, he committed to these, and we already had a filler month story because he can’t stay committed to one project at a time.

“Joe created a Superman for the modern reader – a Clark Kent that’s conflicted and inexperienced but also focused and determined to embrace his destiny,” DiDio said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out.”

I shouldn’t be surprised that DiDio is embracing a Clark Kent that makes the Smallville version seem more heroic by comparison. The Earth-One Clark Kent really doesn’t want the job, and even bails on his job search at the Daily Planet. In other words, JMS is leaving the “walk across the country to get back in touch with the little guy” story for something close to Superboy-Prime without the fan-assault. Nice. At least Shane Davis draws a decent young Superman (pictured right). When he finally gets to.

A last bit of stupid: A writer for Blastr took this as an opportunity to slam the “pamphlet/floppy” comics.

It turns out the problem wasn’t with either DC Comics or Straczynski, but with the evolving nature of comics themselves. The “pamphlet” comic, which has been the form’s primary comics delivery system since the beginning, has become less and less significant over the years, with some even predicting its eventual death.

Straczynski’s Superman Earth One graphic novel was an instant sellout, went immediately into a second printing and got lots of media attention—which obviously got Straczynski’s attention, too. So he’s decided that from now on, that’s where he’ll be focusing his scripting efforts.

Not quite what JMS said. And there are plenty of comic fans begging for the classic “pamphlet”, but the companies keep writing this huge multi-comic story arcs to sell later as graphic novel collections. At least the Earth One graphic novels are original stories created for the format instead of force-padded miniseries. If the people in charge would take advantage of the format to create a serialized story maybe there would be more sales in that form.

Then again, he writes for a site owned by “SyFy”, the network that ditched everything that made the Sci-Fi Channel so awesome so I shouldn’t be surprised he doesn’t get it. People IN the industry don’t seem to. Besides, JMS had this to say in an interview with Bleeding Cool.

This is the best time, and the best opportunity, to step back from writing monthlies entirely so that I can focus on graphic novels and minis. While I feel I’ve done well as a writer in monthlies, the books for which I’m most known and which have had the best reaction are the limited series and GNs like Midnight Nation, Rising Stars, Silver Surfer Requiem, to an extent, Supreme Power, which I treated as a mini as I was writing it, and The Twelve (where Chris has now caught up with the script, and now it falls to me to do the last bit and bring this thing in for a landing). With books like these, I can take the time it takes to get the script absolutely right before it’s ever even announced.

So for me, yes, GNs are the future because they will allow me to tell better stories. It ain’t about the money. In stepping away from writing monthlies for the next 1-5 years, and doing instead only one or two limited series/GNs per year, I’m taking a 75% pay cut in comics so that I can focus on telling better stories.

It’s the better format for him. Granted, the article he linked to was misleading, but still that’s jumping to conclusions.